Reading As a Method of Entering into a Wider and Deeper Consciousness
A teenager was observed as she was deeply absorbed in reading the famous novel by Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo. This novel spans some 1000 pages and encompasses themes of deep and abiding interest, but does so in a captivating story line. It so happened that this teenager was reading the book during an extended road trip across the USA including visits to national parks and the Hopi Reservation of the First Nations’ people. She was so absorbed in her reading that she noticed nothing at all for days at a time, and even when she exited the vehicle, she carried the book in front of her and read it while walking! She entered deeply into the spirit of the story and came away with a deeper understanding of the forces that drive human life, in a way that aided her in her adult life and way of seeing and looking at the world. The method of entering into the spirit of the written word is not restricted to reading of novels. Many people have engrossed themselves deeply i...